In the design and implementation of various types of optical systems, arrangements where single-emitter laser diodes are mounted on individual dielectric heatsinks (“submounts”) and electrically driven in series are well known. In the interest of creating ever-more complex optical systems with higher degrees of integration, it will be preferable to place these single-emitter laser diodes as close to each other as possible, while maintaining optical alignment of their emitter regions and retaining the ability to individually control each separate device. Thus, at higher levels of integration the need to individually place each laser diode on its associated, individual submount becomes problematic. In densely-spaced arrangements, this type of individual placement will inevitably result in alignment errors of the emitter area of one laser diode relative to the others.
Additional problems that arise in attempting to form densely-spaced laser diode arrangements are associated with the specific sequence of fabrication steps used to form the final product. That is, later fabrication processes that raise the temperature of the laser-submount combination may result in previously-aligned laser-submount elements becoming misaligned. This may occur, for example, when a high-temperature process causes the laser-submount bonding material to “reflow” and create misalignment.